It is a leap for a young person to come to a major Canadian urban center from a far country, in some cases from a refugee camp, where that person has had little or no education in any language, often being illiterate even in a mother tongue.  Yet, that leap is taken by many children and teens, even though such youngsters are but a small minority of Canadian newcomers. Toronto has a LEAP program — Literacy Enrichment Academic Program, to meet the needs of such students.  Classes are held to no more than 12 for a particular age group.  While youngsters often start from ground zero, with no English and none of the three “Rs,” the older ones cannot be treated like primary school students.  A special curriculum has been created which uses books in simple English about adult topics.  These are augmented with bus schedules, newspapers, government forms, and other commonly used written materials.  Stuff at the “Dick and Jane” level simply will not do for youngsters in their teens with the life experiences they have had. Similar programs exist in Hamilton and Edmonton, but such programs are not common.  A major problem is a lack of funding to make such education possible.  Federal and provincial governments have been reluctant to give local school boards the funding to meet the needs of these youngsters.